Black Sabbath Announce Plans For Their Last Ever Tour

Sabbath wrapped a massive reunion tour early last year, and are making plans to get back out on the road one last time in 2016.

Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath have announced details of what they claim will be their “final tour” early next year.

Billed in the band’s press release as “the final tour from the greatest metal band of all time”, ‘The End’ tour covers a number of North American cities. It kicks off in Omaha, Nebraska on January 20th 2016 and ends on February 25th at New York’s Madison Square Garden, having taken in 17 dates on the way. There will then be seven dates in Australia and New Zealand running from April 15th-30th.

The farewell tour will boast the same Sabbath line-up as their recent massive reunion tour, which ran from 2012 to 2014 and took in 84 concerts. Three of the four members of their classic line-up – Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Iommi and Geezer Butler – will feature.

The press release went on to say: “It promises to surpass all previous tours with their most mesmerizing production ever. When the tour concludes, it will truly be the end.”

However, original drummer Bill Ward, who did not participate in that last reunion tour and didn’t feature on Sabbath’s 2013 album 13, is also frozen out once more, amid a fall-out with lead singer Osbourne. Ward stated last year that he would certainly be up for rejoining the group as long as he received an apology from Osbourne and received a “signable contract”.

This tour was mooted earlier this year in an April 2015 interview with flamboyant singer Osbourne, who said “the plan is that next year [we’ll do] the final Black Sabbath tour and album.” No details on that LP yet, but Sabbath fans can probably expect some news on that before the end of the year.